„Reduta Ordona. Opowiadanie adiutanta”. Okruchy lektury
“Ordon’s Redoubt. The Adjutant’s Tale”. Fragments of reading

Author(s): Bogusław Dopart
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: Ordon’s Redoubt. The Adjutant’s Tale is a battle poem based on the reality of Warsaw’s defense against Russian forces in September 1831. It is based on a story by Stefan Garczyński, a poet and officer who participated in the events as General Jan Nepomucen Umiński’s adjutant. The poem created one of the most important patriotic legends of the Romantic period: the heroic defense of the redoubt brings Warsaw Fortress into the realm of epic imagery and values, and Konstanty Juliusz Ordon, the artilleryman, becomes the personification of the fighting determination of the Polish soldierhood. A proper understanding of the work depends not only on taking into account the poetic tradition of battle studies, but also on a thorough knowledge of the battlefield realities and the course of events during the defense of the capital. Mickiewicz sets in motion various generic elements in the poem: epic, lyrical and dramatic. The combination of these factors shapes the work’s expression (a revival of soldiers’ experiences) and its ideological message, which closely matches the patriotic and historiosophical proclamations of the poets of the November Insurrection.

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